Sunday, March 07, 2010

A few of us RMBR Nature Guides went to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for an exploratory walk last Saturday. Along the main road, we found a dipterocarp fruit (looked like a Dipterocarpus sp. to me), which truly surprised us. The mast-fruiting event was supposed to have already happened last year! Do we have a late bloomer here? I did not take a photo of the fruit though, but little did I know that there were more surprises.

We found more dipterocarp fruits along the way. Looked like some Shorea species, though the ones I had seen previously usually had 3 wings, so can't say for sure. I found a few more on yet another trail, and thus there were definitely a number of these late bloomers. the fruits looked rather green, and thus I guess if I were to visit Bukit Timah again in a few weeks' time, I will probably see more of them.

I did not really take many photos for this trip since not many other plants were flowering or fruiting, but one flowering plant that caught my eye was this Bat Lily (Tacca integrifolia).

We saw very few animals during this trip. This caterpillar was spotted by one of the new guides. Certainly looked rather ugly, but guess that probably helped deter would-be predators.

There were a number of these St. Andrew's Cross Spiders. Not really sure what species they are.

There was also a troupe of Long-tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) near the entrance to the reserve. This female appeared to be really enjoying herself while the male was helping to clean her fur.

The most exciting sighting for me must be the two Malayan Colugos (Cynocephalus variegatus), which we saw only as we were leaving the reserve! Here's one of them.

I decided to walk around the tree and took photos of it form various angles, starting from its left.